View my complete profileMy name is Diane Shepard Johnson and my daughter Sarah and I have always loved old fashioned things. We find Tasha Tudor and Beatrix Potter so inspiring. Some of our favorite things and interests are: spinning, weaving, natural dyeing of fiber and yarn, knitting, bobbin lace making, vegetable, herb and flower gardening, old fashioned clothing and frocks, dolls, the old ways of preparing food, canning, corgyn, bunnies, goats, birds, photography, writing, drawing and painting, and the old ways of living.The Corgyncombe Courant is our newspaper of some of the highlights of life at Corgyncombe Cottage. Courant is an old term for newspaper.

February 26, 2014

Tillie Tinkham's Sewing Circle with Sewing Bird!

A New Pinny for Hitty!

Hitty tries on Tillie Tinkham's latest creation so that Tillie can pin the hem. Tillie has made Hitty a pinafore using a Gail Wilson pattern. Hitty was carved by Judy Brown, also a wonderful seamstress who made her lovely brown frock.

The book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" written by Rachel Field and illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop. The story follows the wooden doll Hitty's many exciting adventures throughout the years.

On the walls in "Tillie Tinkham's Frocks and Fashions" shoppe with Millinery and Tea Room at 863 Park Avenue are blue and silver scenes that are like diamond shaped windows looking out to fashionable folk walking about on cobbled streets. In one of the windows is a lady wearing a bonnet who reminds us of Hitty on the cover of the book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years".

In her shoppe at 863 Park Avenue, Tillie steps back to see how the hem looks after pinning.

"The Mary Frances Sewing Book, or Adventures Among the Thimble People" published in 1913, written by Jane Eayre Fryer and illustrated by Jane Allen Boyer.

In the book Sewing Bird tells the little girl Mary Frances about the sewing lessons and all the things that she can make for her doll:

"Why, certainly, dear little Miss,You can learn to make all this:A pin-a-fore, some under-clothes,A little 'kerchief for her nose;Kimono, bloomers, little cap,a nightie for her little nap;A dress for morn, for afternoon,A dress for parties, not too soon;A little cape, a little bonnet --perhaps with roses fastened on it; --A nice warm coat to keep from chill,A dainty sack, in case she's ill:All this and more we'll gladly teach,If you will do and follow each--will you?"

The book has patterns for all these thingsfor a bigger doll than Hitty.

863 Park Avenue, the smaller apartment dollhouse that we found after reading about it on Susan Branch's blog. The dollhouse, with its two large opening doors, reminds us of Beatrix Potter's doll's house at Hill Top.

A lovely sewing bird holds Tillie's pins.

Sewing birds were used for hand sewing.

In "The Mary Frances Sewing Book" sewing bird's beak held your work
whilst hemming and sewing. Mary Frances' Grandmother says about sewing
bird: "The first time she ever helped me was with my wedding dress. Yes,
I love her, too, dear." Working with the sewing bird allowed you to sit
up straighter whilst sewing.

I have fond remembrances of visiting a favorite elderly relative. My great grandmum's cousin Lena (who was more the age of my Grandmum) excelled at domestic skills such as pickling, breadmaking, sewing, and many others. She always won prizes for her domestic abilities at the county fair. My family used to visit them often and I would usually take a doll with me. One time she surprised me with a handmade dolly wardrobe in an old basket.

Lena had a sewing bird. I remember her sewing bird clamped on a table near her sewing machine. She was a professional seamstress and had her sewing shop in her house. Her sewing machine was in her bright cheerful yellow kitchen near an old fashioned bay window. In the window she had all kinds of plants and a canary that sang.

In "The Mary Frances Sewing Book" there is also a canary who lives in the sewing room.

Lena also quilted and made hooked and braided rugs and always had many projects ongoing.

4 comments:

This was so much fun reading. I may come back,just to enjoy this post once again. :-) I too featured my Hitty Jane and some friends in a post today at my blog........blessings dear friends. Oh yes, that sewing book sounds wonderful......how blessed you are to own it!

My goodness, everyone is sewing these days... your little mice and bird, my little mice and birds and bears! (Dimity Doormouse suggests that she and Tillie Tinkham get together soon for a quilting bee.) Christie (Grammys House) came to the Garden show I am exhibiting at this weekend and showed me HER little Hitty she had just painted and beautifully stitched a sweet outfit for. It was a dress pattern from Gail Wilson as well. So, it's a whirlwind of sewing!I I too have enjoyed visiting Gail's website catalog since first I learned of her from your blog. Love that sewing bird and all the sweet seamstresses. Cousin Jeri